What is Rhino?

The Rhino is an embedded controller designed for home automation created by Jonathan Somers. It has a CEBus powerline modem so it can communicate through the power lines. See Jonathan's page on the Rhino.

What is CEBus and CAL?
These are two EIA standards created for home automation. Together they define everything needed to have home automation including network protocols, a messaging system, and data types and structures.

Where can I read about CEBus and CAL?
Rough drafts of the standards are at ftp://ftp.gci-net.com/pub/trainingdept/eia600

How much of the CEBus standard does the Rhino support?
Currently Rhino only offers support for the first 2 network layers of the CEBus network stack. These layers are implemented by the Intellon PL400 and offer basic message passing capabilities.

Why not fully support the CEBus standard? This would require a lot of work. It would be worth having but was not a primary goal.

Does anyone sell a development kit that supports the CEBus standard?
Domosys has a software package that implements CEBus and CAL on a HC11 and a 8080, but not Rhino's x86.

What commercial products are available?
SMART has several products including ligh t switches, thermostats, and security alarm interfaces.